Although officials have not made such an assertion publicly, they have characterized the attacks that occurred in recent months as initiated by a "state actor." The U.S. intelligence apparatus observed and tracked the attacks as coming out of Iran, a third official said Monday. The official would not describe further what was observed but said the belief is the perpetrators were surrogates working with the Iranian government.

“We strongly believe there is a relationship between the people typing the code and people running the government,” according to the official.

"It certainly is the case that Iran is improving its capabilities in the cyber field. We're paying attention. We are concerned about their increasing ability to operate in this realm," a U.S. intelligence official said.

Calling it a "pre-9/11 moment," Panetta said he is particularly worried about a significant escalation of attacks and highlighted a cyber virus known as "Shamoon." The virus infected the computers of major energy firms in Saudi Arabia and Qatar this past summer.

In Saudi Arabia, more than 30,000 computers were rendered useless by the attack on the state oil company ARAMCO. Ras Gas was affected in Qatar.

Panetta said the attacks were probably the most devastating to ever hit the private sector.

Iran denied any involvement in the attack on the oil industry, according to a report broadcast Monday on PRESS TV, a government-run news agency.

"One of the main aims of the United States is to make itself look like the victim," said Mehdi Ahkavan Bahabadi, the director of the Iran Cyberspace Center.

The report noted Iran itself has been the victim of numerous online assaults, including Stuxnet, a complex cyberattack against its nuclear program believed to have been created by American and Israeli programmers.

Panetta's speech also covered recent attacks against large U.S. banks, which hit with unprecedented speed and disrupting services to customers.

While the attacks did not do any significant damage or result in any financial losses, it caught the attention of U.S. intelligence, according to officials.

Officials said they have not heard any talk with in the government regarding a possible retaliatory strike for the cyber attack on the banking system.

Panetta did not publicly say Iran was behind both attacks but sources say that is what U.S. officials believe.

The New York Times reported that while there seems to be no real evidence that the cyber attacks were sanctioned by the Iranian government,

U.S. officials have begun to focus their suspicion on a recently created Iranian military unit called "cybercorps."

The unit was developed in response to American and Israeli cyberattacks on the Iranian nuclear enrichment plant at Natanz.

The U.S. is really digging their own grave here. First, the U.S. attacks Iran's nuclear program. Now, our banks and oil companies in OTHER COUNTRIES are attacked and we feel that we should immediately point fingers at Iran and treat it like a terrible act of war. But really, its only fair because we did the same thing to them. An eye for an eye, right?? And WHY do we even care about the cyberattacks on oil companies in Saudi Arabia and Qatar? Because we need their OIL so desperately, and here we have President Obama saying that he's trying to make us energy independent. I don't really think so. Heck, this article almost makes it seem like the oil companies are more important then the cyberattacks on American banks. Now granted, we would still be angry if it was just attacks on American banks, but we are nothing less than insulted and violated by the attacks on our good friends, the oil companies. By the way, if all these cyberattacks keep up, I'm pretty sure we will end up at war with Iran, and we won't be the aggressor.

The United States Of America should take in consideration constantly that until 110% proof is evident and certain that the Iranian Government is responsible for the cybber attack, then the U.S should NOT point its finger at any country until she (the U.S) knows what exactly is goin on, let alone who, if another country or Iran is responsible for the cyber hack attack or what have you!!.

It's not Iran by itself, its all of the countries MAINLY RUSSIA supporting their nuclear ambitions that make this situation really dangerous. Netanyahu is publicly stating information we have known for a long time. Israel plays such a minor role in this whole situation, its not even fair to mention them.

Only thing that we currently don't need is another war.it will damage our economy and will raise unemployment .any one who says lets start war is the first one who runs away who wants to be killed in another country and as an invader.you are sitting in your warm place and you don't know how bad is a war.soldiers will fight it not you.please don't say start war the only thing that a soldier hates is war and seeing his friends be killed.war is monster don't release it.

“We strongly believe there is a relationship between the people typing the code and people running the government,” according to the official"
is the equivalent to harboring weapons of mass destruction!!!!! Go get 'em Hilary!

Alot of damages have been done to Iranians' cyber community, even their nuclear facility was hit. were they (Iranians) victims too? America should learn with good heart that what ever they do to others can be done to them too. i got no beef with any one, i am just saying!!

"Talent is a rumor, but practice works." Gotta start somewhere, right? Although I suppose one wouldn't find much iron to sharpen iron here. The closest thing to an expert that exists, in any field, is a lifelong learner.

.........if a tanker is breached in Iranian waters, other tankers would not be able to move through the Strait of Hormuz soooo there would be oil shortages and a major increase in the price of gas would happer and even if Iran sold less oil, it would make more. The fact is that Iran's five budget is predicated on a price of $85 a barrel and sales of one million barrels a day. Currently, oil is selling at $110 barrels a day, and Iran is selling 950,000 barrels a day so it is ahead of the curve.....and this is now when the price is depressed artificially by the Saudis. All in all, Iran is ahead of the curve and will weather the sanctions and emerge with a stronger and more diversified economy not so dependent on the sale of a raw material like oil. Wait until the price of oil starts to go up as the recession ends and demand from China and India increases! Bravo Iran.....

Iran and Ahmedinajad never said that they would wipe IsraHell from the face of the earth. Ahmedinajad said that Israel would vanish from the earth....this is a valid statement given that Israehell cannot sustain itself without leeching of WE THE AMERICAN TaXPAYERS....Economically it is not viable that a racist apartheid state can continue to leech tens of billions of dollars off of America for perpetuity. Can Israel-Firsters not get it that America is broke and we need to look after our own needy who are in their tens of milliosn in the USA. Fact is that Israel has to prosper on its own without parasitically leeching off of Americans and that is something that that nation is incapable of notwithstanding that Israel understands that living is easy if it is off the hard work of others, namely, WE THE AMERICAN TAXPAYERS! Fact is that once aid from America stops, Israhell is no longer capable of sustaining itself and if a nation cannot sustain itslef on its own, it will vanish from history and that is a reality that will face Israel notwithstanding all the obfuscation and misrepresentations of what Iran or Ahmedinajad said!!!

.....and yes, I have dual citizenship but cannot support a racist apartheid state like Israhell has become. American Jews need to say screw off Israhell instar of Boeing Jonathon Pollard clones or "my country Israhell right or wrong" like that Israël–Firster Dershowitz.

I'm not some Ivy League trained, paper waving prop, but I'll share my thoughts as they differ on these topics: It doesn't matter how one is indoctrinated by these synthetic conflicts; all are asked to trade one hand for the other, to become liars held in a social trap. Figuratively speaking, trees can often survive being trimmed. Given the right foundation and nutrients required to subsist, they may continue their supportive function and possibly grow. Conversely, if the roots become infected, it won't matter how deep they go or how much care is given–the tree will perish. Systems we depend on, from social constructs to financial constructs, they are strikingly similar to the tree, from their structure and especially to their lifecycle.

Sadly it doesn't take much painting by the numbers to notice that all sides of these conflicts commonly share an unwittingly cooperative and abundant possession of working contradictions. Of them, what becomes most detrimental is a static cling to the idea that attrition and suppression of the opposition is requisite for the ability to maintain the appearance of superiority. Reducing high-level concepts to a low-level understanding: all parties are basically stating that A is equal to A is equal to B, that all their opponents are liars; in a roundabout kind of way. All conflicts minimally have three versions of truth between each subject. (While more realistically, as complexity increases, the maximal limit approaches oo[infinity].)

As things are, amicable resolutions for the myriad conflicts of intent vs. outcome are perpetuated by a fairly strict adherence to maintaining traditionally mandated positions. By that, each contradiction becomes singularly dependent upon forcing A to equal B, to force a square down a round hole. In other words, nobody in society can get something for nothing: refusing to take a short term loss for long term gain is stealing: such a society of thieves cannot exist; there is no honor amongst them.

If you have a string bundled, it's fairly simple to straighten it out. It may even 'self'-correct, given enough time within the elements. With a string looped through itself, and the loop pulled tight, no amount of time will make it come undone; absent intervention. When bound by something other than the truth, being unable to see it for what it is, you might as well be trying to unknot the string while being blindfolded and one your strong hand tied behind your back.

After all is said and the Paradoxical Other has won, wouldn't anyone give everything they have to undo all of what caused the destruction of what they unilaterally loved from the inside-out? Mankind, near the whole, willingly ignores what's in store for self and others. All in all, it is in despair that some will seek more, that they may still repair what others tore. It is not of this world that any things are, but it is within that they now come to be–brought down from a glutton's weight, that for which was too great.

As an Israeli Jew, I am convinced that it is only Israel-Firsters in the USA, Canada, and Europe who have falsely labelled President Ahmedinajad of Iran as a Holocaust denier because of their need to demonize anyone who questions Israel's racist apartheid character. ]

The reality is that the Holocaust denier slur is used against anyone who dares to ask why the Palestinians should pay the price for what Europeans did to Jewish people in World War II. The reality is that Hitler himself was partially Jewish and played a willing and leading role in the extermination of his own people. The ideological father of Nazi ideology was Alfred Rosenbery who Israel-Firsters conveniently forget when they launch their daily innuendos of "holocaust denier", "NAZI", "Jew-hater", and "Jew-baiter" ad nauseum.

Read what Professor Norman Finkelstein (whose parents survived the Holocaust has to say about these Israel-Firsters who wear some sort of shroud of victimization on their chests and continually beat it over everyone's heads like a cudgel unlike any other groups of people who have also been through genocidal experiences, e.g. Rwandan genocide, Ukrainian genocide, Bosnian genocide, and so on.

Professor Norman Finkelstein who is Jewish himself says that it is only Israel-Firsters who have made an economic livelihood out of the enormous tragedy of the Holocaust and use it to continually mask Israel's racist apartheid character.

As a Jewish person, I myself am sick of how Israel-Firsters beat the Holoacust over the heads of any one who speaks about Palestinian rights and frankly say screw it because Jewish people do not have a monopoly on suffering. Franking, the African slave trade lasted for centuries and affected far far far more people in an equally horrible manner yet you don't see African nations continually whining for more and more reparations because of what was done to them. Israel-Firsters have become a bunch of parasitic leeches squeezing the system for all they are worth because of the fear that political leaders in both the Democratic and Republic parties have of Israel's special interest lobbies in the United States such as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee .

I'm a Firm believer that Cyber Attacks, Hacking, Malware, viruses are all forms of TERRORISM. It hurts everyone, and is intended to spread fear in peoples, and to cause financial hardship. Why have we not passed laws making all forms of Cyber Attacks (Cyber-Terrorism). If hackers are only going to get a slap on the hand, you can bet that enemy nations are going to fund Cyber-Terrorism. Round up all Cyber Terrorists, Foreign and Domestic and send them off to Gitmo. Locate the source of Nationally sponsored Cyber Terrorism and target them for bombing. If we don't send a STRONG Message, Cyber Terrorism will become the preferred weapon of future terrorists.

Cool, yeah, what John said. Well, about that... black hat attacks have been criminalized for a long time. It stands to reason there is an insufficiency with laws that aren't enforced as much as people believe they should be. However, the only people you're likely going to be able to seek and destroy en masse are amateur kids. Additionally, if you think ITSec is scary now, just imagine what happens if you go after some of the only people really capable of providing (in)security for critical infrastructures dependent on high-level expertise.

Critical infrastructure doesn't brag about its imperviousness for the same reason people really should be angry: it wouldn't take much to coordinate crippling blows to the foundations thereof. So while fighting fire with fire has worked well in forestry, it hasn't proven to be reliable when abstracted. Complexity is a side-effect of ego, which people are in no short supply of, especially engineers.

Cyber terrorism, in and of itself, is a perceived, yet unrealized threat; when it comes to potential impact. What you're suggesting would be a perfect motive for an unknown sized army of otherwise relatively harmless and yet often socially inept geeks to unleash a cataclysmic tsunami of whoop-ass from an ocean of unknown depth. If you force a man to think, he will kill you–now that's a strong message. War never proclaims a victor, ever.

If my facetiousness didn't make it clear, no I don't think it would make a bit of good to send hackers into exile. If existing threat of prosecution isn't deterrent enough for someone, a more severe punishment is unlikely to cause a real reduction. A crusade isn't going to bring back some holy grail of security. The only viable solution I see is for the technology to adapt to the changing atmosphere. Writing better code and improving upon best practices makes a hell of a lot more sense than a violent campaign.

KId : What did you do in ww2 Great Grand Pa ?
Great Grand Pa : Son, my friends were getting shot up so , i took my rifle fixed bayonets , lobbed a grenade and bayonetted the enemy and got a bullet in my leg.
Kid : wow great grand pa youre a hero.
Kid : What did you do in Vietnam Grand Pa ?
Grand Pa : Son I had 20 people charging up our base, i was a helicopter guneer , i fired my machine gun till the barrel went red , our helicopter took fire and crashed. I got injured.
Kid: wow grand Pa youre a hero!
Kid : What did you do in Afghanistan Uncle Bob ?
Uncle Bob: son most nights we did not do any thing one one ocaassion we were in a fire fight,we killed one and for the other two taliban we called in 2 F15s and two drones and wasted them.
Kid: nice job Uncle bob!
Kid: what did you in Iran dad ?
Dad: Son i sat on my rear for 18 hrs , and typed till my eyes were sore, then went home have mom massage me and then typed for 2 hours and killed Iran's mail server.
Son: Dad you just a B**ch !

Jim, you soundtrack like an immature Israël-Firster. How is your friend, Jonathon Pollard? Ohhhh and incidentally, hilarious how Israhell could not béat a rag tag group like Hezbollah (yeah, we saw the images of Israeli soldiers craint like babies), and now claims that it will attack Iran so that it can get another beating, heh,heh,heh.....

October 16, 2012 at 10:57 pm |

Jim

Jim, you are a shillll. Trying to deceive people into believing that your comments are mine.

One of you should set a domain and then the other see if it is dup-checked. If not, we can have usurper one and usurper two battle it out right here while Iran tries to DDoS Security Clearance to avoid reading t1t for t4t. 😉

The war against Iraq was a complete waste of lives and treasure.
The war against Afghanistan should have been a police action taken on a small scale going after the perpetrators of 911.

The issue we have with Iran is very pointed.
It is about their nuclear program and nothing else.
Those who want to describe doing something to prevent them from aquiring the bomb as "war" are hysterical.
This is the 1st situation I've seen, where a serious attack against somewhere in the middle east is warranted.

The nuclear installations should be completely eradicated, though a precision and thorough attack. Using limited ground forces to verify completion of mission.
Then all military assets should be immediately removed from the area.
Let them resume theri lives..........without the hinderance of nuclear weapons decisions.

Are you talking about in Dimona where they are making illegal nuclear bombs (over 300 by some estimates) haven't signed the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and don't allow IAEA inspections, or in Iran where they are not making bombs at all and have signed the nuclear non-proliferation treaty which allows us to have IAEA inspections that have shown no evidence of any nuclear program.

What some folks won't allow themselves to understand is that, there are some governments which can never be allowed to produce nuclear weapons.
Iran being the biggest state sponsor of terrorism on the planet, who has a "supreme leader" who makes public genocidal threats against a neighboring nation, is one.

Israel has never done so.

October 16, 2012 at 2:52 pm |

Jim

Sit there an lie lie lie. Israel hasn't threatened Iran? They've murdered their scientists, planted viruses on their computer systems, done every sort of espionage they can against Iran, and used their media companies to try to influence and prevent people from knowing the truth about Israel and Iran.

October 16, 2012 at 2:59 pm |

Jim

Jim, Israel has really nothing almost nothing to do with this nuclear issue.

It is the responsibility of any elected official with the power to, to keep a terrorist supplier from being able to produce nuclear weapons materials.
The whole world would be changed and in constant peril if Iran were allowed to develop nuclear weapons.

Of course Israel is the most nervous.....they know they'll be the 1st target

October 16, 2012 at 3:39 pm |

JAM

at least it isn't saying that is supplying terrorists but Israel is doing its terrible works in front of our eyes.using white phosphorus using cluster bombs killing civilians and destroying farming grounds and..they already have killed enought Americans(USS liberty) at least Iranians didn't killed any American.

October 16, 2012 at 3:45 pm |

Bob

Stop talking to yourself, Jim!

October 16, 2012 at 5:18 pm |

A

Limited ground attack?fordo iran's main enrichment facility is in Heart of iran you think how army is going to there without facing heavy defence.it will turn into a full scale war.

after the enhanced bunker-busters are finished obliterating the facilities, there won't be much resistance left.

Of course there needs to be a civilian warning, if strategically feasible.
But honestly...if youre a citizen in Iran living near those facilities......you kow what's coming......who's to blame if your standing there when it happens.

October 16, 2012 at 3:44 pm |

itsWorthDaSmile:)

Why r we getting involved in the first place.
IF there will be a war let Israel die

I was kinda hoping we had eliminated all Americans stupid enough to want any more wars in the Middle East.

Didn't seem to work too well when we went to war in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya etc ...

War againest Iran? Now that has to be the dumbest idea yet. What have they ever done to us? Oh, that's right, they took some hostages about 100 years ago because we used our puppet the Shah of Iran to murder hundreds of thousands of innocent citizens.

Oh wait, didn't we also use tons of Chemical Weapons againest the Iranian people for 8 years also? Seems we had a good buddy named Saddam Hussein that we armed and trained and fought alongside.

Ho ho ho ... if I was an Iranian I sure would hate a vicious murderous country like America.

I was agreeing with you Sly. The other shilll who is pretending to be me left the other comments. You can easily tell which one he is. The one that's working for the Israel Internet Defense Force.

October 16, 2012 at 3:55 pm |

Jim

well if Israel were as bad as you're saying, then I'd be agreeing wth you completely.
I don't believe from all I've read that that is the case.
I try to get my news from all types of sources also...Not faux news....as you may think.

October 16, 2012 at 4:05 pm |

BL

Well the best way is going there and seeing events with your eye

October 16, 2012 at 4:10 pm |

Jim

BL:
That is true.

for sure.

October 16, 2012 at 4:48 pm |

itsWorthDaSmile:)

Sly, I read most of all ur comments n I agree.
Its cuz of us . We r stupidly going to their country n setting up bombs (hurtlocker) n they bomb us once (911) n we cry about it n start doin more stuff?
Let em go

There are a lot of smart people commenting here. How are those cubicles treating you? Or how is typing from home? Bet you blame the president for your problems and not your lack of education and blatant ignorance of foreign affairs.

Selling out mankind for a paycheck, huh? What a piece of $#!t you are.

October 16, 2012 at 3:56 pm |

Chuk

Yeah, cry me a river. Remind me who opened this can of worms? And once it backfires they cry foul? Give me a break!
The U.S and their "ally" Israel probably think they own exclusive right to covert war. If you can't take the heat why stay in the kitchen? Except, in this case, they built the kitchen!

Probably, and ones that it actually buys instead of leeches off the taxes of WE THE AMERICAN TAXPAYERS like Israhell has done for fifty plus years and still counting like some sort of parasitic vampire!

Lance, just what do you hope to accomplish with your antisemitic, racist rubbish?

October 16, 2012 at 12:18 pm |

Jim

Bad mouthing Israel is not anti-Semitic, imbecile. The majority of them are not even Semites, having a Khazarian ancestry. But don't let that stop you. He probably hates black people too, if he's pointing out the parasitic actions of Israel, right? How dare he speak the truth of Israel, the racist.

October 16, 2012 at 1:06 pm |

ThaGerm

A well timed, properly placed and formatted attack like this can make an impact, fortunately, this was none of those things.

October 16, 2012 at 1:08 pm |

tacc2

Bob: F*** Israel. Just because someone doesn't like the policies of a nation doesn't mean they're racist.

October 16, 2012 at 1:19 pm |

Jim

It took reading these comments for a while to come to realize that, to be a true liberal, apparently means you must agree to hate the Jews.

October 16, 2012 at 2:46 pm |

Jim

@Jim Liberals hate Jews? Really? You might need to cut back on the medication.

October 16, 2012 at 3:59 pm |

eflows

Another component of Iran's cyber-war is the stream of anti-Israel, "false-flag" trolling on this thread.

Uh oh Israel-Firsters are now going kookoo kookoo kookooo.....looks like once they are outed they start spinning their wheels with false slurs such as Jew hater, Nazi, or anit-Semite or other such slur. Too bad for Israel-Firsters that Americans are now realizing that as soon as they see this argument being made, well, heeeeere's yet another Israel-Firster ready to sell out America for IsraeHell once more.......

You are the one talking koo, koo. Unfortunately you probably believe your rhetoric.

October 16, 2012 at 12:21 pm |

Jim

Yup, here look up this.

Former Israeli Minister Shulamit Aloni "Anti-semitic", "its a trick

October 16, 2012 at 1:01 pm |

Jim

Just the opposite. People like us on here, pointing out all the lies and deceitful propaganda you people push is so to prevent you from getting your war, and dead and increased debts for our children. The only trolls on here are you people and the people who own our main stream media who are saying they "believe" Iran is behind it, with not a shred of proof. We know you'll be doing your false flag sometime here, we're just wondering what form it will take. This seems to be one option you've shown us you might go with.

When are Mitt Rob-Me and the children of AIPAC leaders going to go and fight against Iran. They are good at sending the children of other Americans to go fight in foreign wars for the benefit of IsraeHell but when are they going to send their own children?

The only threat to the USA comes from Israel-Firsters who have corrupted America's body politic through AIPAC and so on. Iran will sell oil to the USA no questions asked and IsraHell is needlessly going to force Americans to pay more for gas with its stupid focus on trying to be the strongest nation in the Middle East all the while leeching off of America like a parasitic vampire!

October 16, 2012 at 11:26 am |

PSB

What threat?they know that they can't defeat us and they know that we will smash them in a war.but why war?why we should go to another useless war and be killed just for a mad Israeli PM.its your problem not ours.go and solve it.

October 16, 2012 at 12:04 pm |

tello

"the only threat to the USA comes from Israel firsters".... really? if that's the ONLY threat, then you have it covered. Since its not, you remain grossly misinformed.

Okay, I will be more specific...AIPAC and Israel-Firsters are the main threat to America given how they are always trying to get America into wars for the benefit of Israhell and maintain unlimited off-sourcing of American tax dollars to IsraeHell for perpetuity.

October 16, 2012 at 12:01 pm |

rodboy

Lance you need to lighten up on the drugs or beer while you type. Also Lance the US army is all volunteer, not draft unless you were asleep when this was announced years back. Plus Lance there will never be peace in the middle east, we say never, just like sodium and water will never mix.

The main reason we will be at war with Iran is because Iran reads all these news blogs and has deduced that they can go for Israeal's throat because America won't stop them. Iran thinks these news blogs are a true reflection of how Americans think. So, for all the ignorant people on here blaming Israel and wondering if Mitt (our new President you must assume) is gonna sent his kids, thanks for the war with Iran. You let it happen.

I only complain about lies, propaganda to push those lies, and the people in our government who are working for the war profiteers and foreign governments to get our country and people into wars for profit at the expense to our country and citizens.

October 16, 2012 at 11:35 am |

palusko996769

As long as I can get on my Facebook, everything is fine in the cyberspace.

Do yourself a favor and don't sell Iran short when it comes to technology and sophistication. They blinded a surveilance satellite several years ago with a laser, shot down one of our drones (I know we said it crashed, but we WOULD say that), and have some very good technological training centers. It's not so much who is better, it's who is quicker. I think they have a head start.

where is your proof, mr. conspiracy? just because Iran is relatively ineffective in hurting us doesn't mean its not trying constantly while improving its abilities. It sounds like you already decided and that facts dont really matter much to you.

Israel-Firsters can be spotted from a mile away as they always try to make it look as if the USA and IsraHell were some sort of symbiotic twin. Well they are not....IsraHell is a parasitic leech feasting off WE THE American Taxpayers!

This is exactly the way a racist talks. Keep showing your true colors. That of a hater.

October 16, 2012 at 12:20 pm |

Picard

Maybe if we didn't have such loudmouthed fame seeking morons in our government who love to leak classified inofrmation such as "The US was behing the Stuxnet" attacks on Iran, we would not have had that much of an issue because Iran probably would guess it was us but there was no proof until our leak happy government basically told them who was behind the cyberattacks. Lesson: if you can't keep your mouths shut then you should not be serving our country.

You are right....Israel-Firsters from AIPAC and ones like Jonathon Pollard found on these boards would put the interests of IsraeHell and Nutty-Yahoo ahead of those of America in a heartbeat. These Israel-Girster traitors need to be outed!

October 16, 2012 at 11:56 am |

tello

yes Bush leaked some info for political gain, but Obama seems to have taken it to the max. There were multiple leaks throughout his presidency that sacrificed our security for politics. i wonder what obama will leak next?

One day Iran is this powerful country making nukes, controlling militias and 'terrorists' with a worldwide network, behind major cyber attacks and then then the next day they are just a poor third world country with 1950s military technology and aging equipment. Which one is it?

OK So basically what you are saying is technology , no technology, 1950's or 2012.
Iran is evil and has to go. Nice.........

October 16, 2012 at 1:13 pm |

josh p.

Apparently we are not the only smart ones,we planted viruses to destroy their centrifuges,kill their scientists,a cartel oil embargo against them,and we expected them to just sit by idly.

I hope they do even more to western interest.BTW,anybody remember,whatever happened to the used car salesman who was supposed to murder to Saudi Ambassador,let me guess nothing,because he never existed to begin with.

Iran thinks it has the knowledge and intelligence to fight, win and impose its belief system that they believe is best in the world, so, they would do anything to win it. It was the same situation with Osama Bin laden's views of the world. In every respect their challenge was the US and Israel. Until Iran confronts a power, they will never calm down. On the otherhand America cannot rest peacefully until Iranian vision is proven to be wrong. Iran is seeking forcefull resolution and thats the only way they will oblige by. Go ahead America the whole world is with you.

I am glad that you say the rest of the world is with us but i would like to see the rest of the world provide arms, intelligence gathering capability, and so on and I am not seeing this too much. I see the rest of the world sitting by and waiting for us to fight the battle. It's time everyone else who is against such Islamic extremism go all in as we did and join the fight and not only join it but see it through until Islamic extremism is defeated once and for all.

I guess you disagree with America's whole "innocent until proven guilty" thing. You're an idiot.

October 16, 2012 at 2:02 pm |

Walter

LOL....what is surprising about this? Every kid entering high school understands the wonders of modern technology and the manipulation of the world one can perform while eating piza with feet up playing video games and watching ones favorite program and ...having mom fetch something to drink. So, what about that life is NOT looking better than fighting on a field with bullets? Now, the only thing that rips me is we, our country, would and have never done such a thing to others. We are simply just too nice. I'm glad we are calling 'foul' on this – more piza please.

That's being said with a straight face, as if the US weren't behind the Stuxnet cyberattacks on Iran. When will the rest of the world simply fall in line and realize that the US is the world's policeman, it can make and break laws at will, no one else need apply?

The U.S. will stop being the world's "policeman" when the next upcoming superpower takes its place. Then you will have The Peoples Republic of China being your cop. We'll see how everyone likes the change.

I believe US handled two world wars and a cold war successfully, so, obviously it has more expertise than any nation on earth. Imagine if Hitler or communists ever won the race, it could be an end to modern civilisation. Naturally America is at the top both ethically and morally. Thats our hope that America maintains its superiority globally.

The US is at the top morally and ethically? They tortured and killed Iraqi prisoners of war while Saddam himself treated American captives humanely. The US killed over a million Iraqis in the last 20 years for oil, and millions more Vietnamese, Koreans, Cambodians, Guatemalans, Salvadorans, Nicaraguans, and Argentinians to preserve their purist capitalist free market dogma. The US is terrorizing all of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, and Iran because they have demonized and attacked Islam so much that Islam has finally started fighting back. Now they're going to train death squads in Libya to kill even more people who disagree with the US way of life.

October 16, 2012 at 9:49 am |

Mr. Bill

@anchorite – The torturing of Iraqi prisoners was an act of individuals... not the US. And those individuals were all relieved of duty, charged with crimes and punished. The rest of your comment is so equally full of BS it is not even worth a response.

October 16, 2012 at 10:27 am |

grist

I am a patriot and believe in my country. However, the legal status of Quantanimo Bay and that we indeed committed acts of torture there, is not consistent with the idea of "American Exceptionalism". We are not unlike other countries. We operate in our own self-interest. If we can find humanitarian reasons to invade a country we want to invade for reasons of self-interest, we justify our invasion based on humanitarian reasons. I would not expect a sucessful country to operate in any other way.

“We strongly believe there is a relationship between the people typing the code and people running the government,” How does Iran defend itself? Would there be a preemptive strike because of cyber attacks? I'm afraid the US is reaching for reasons to attack.

It is the last thing the US wants. Beating Iran is a non-issue....they aint got a shot. It would take less than two months. It is the cleanup that sucks. That could take years. We are making our case for if it comes to an attack. Let them (Iran) keep adding it up

The clean up,We couldn,t even tamed little Iraq,you have no clue,we can,t divide and conquer in Iran,like we did in Iraq by starting to pay one faction to fight another,the entire Iranian nation will stand up to us,we can,t invade Iran and they know it,we can only bomb them.

October 16, 2012 at 10:28 am |

pianki

The wording that drew me to this story said: "Iran is behind". When I get to the story aq certainty allf a sudden turns into a "is believed". How much more deceptive can media get.

Well, looks like we will have a Cyber version of the Patriot Act pretty soon. Now any time you turn on a computer, you will have a silent partner sitting right next to you watching what you are watching, having control to manipulate your PC if necessary. As far as Iran and Cyber attacks, looks like nuke theory is failing so now we need something else, like cyber attacks. Hey maybe they will even say that Osama is alive and we totally need to strike Iran. There is no hope, for human race, when war mongers are on the prowl.

I'm sure Obama will be cooking up a nice apology for them any day now.

How are those direct negotiations working out for you (from 2008): "I would meet directly with Iranian leaders. I would meet directly with Syrian leaders. We would engage in a level of aggressive personal diplomacy in which a whole host of issues are on the table. ... Iran and Syria would start changing their behavior if they started seeing that they had some incentives to do so, but right now the only incentive that exists is our president suggesting that if you do what we tell you, we may not blow you up. ..

OMG! We had better hurry up and elect Romney so he can drop nuclear weapons on Iran on his first day as president! OMG, my wife will be wearing a burkha in January if we don't put the magic mormon in power right away!!!!!!

"One of the main aims of the United States is to make itself look like the victim," . So are they made because they think we're trying one of their "main aims"? I believe that we CAN determine who's doing this and I WANT to believe that we're being told the truth. Can't our hackers take down Iran's computers? All we need to do is deny it like they do. Wasn't that suxtenent virus from us? Didn't work did it?

"Defense Secretary Leon Panetta noted the attacks in a speech last week and warned that United States must beef up its cyber defenses or risk a potentially devastating strike."
How many times have we heard this same warning, over and over again? Yet nothing gets done!

We will be at war, a shooting war, with Iran in two years. No doubt about it. Doesn't matter who is President. Some may not like the idea of war, but that doesn't matter. We don't live in a civilized world. A civilized world is many many centuries away. Some can pretend that they are above the fray, they are better then war, say this will be a war about oil or religion, or whatever. We will be at war and the only thing we have to do is win. Doesn't matter what it's about. Face it, war is on the horizon, live with it.

Ha! Let's see Romney's sons enlist in the military first! Maybe then we wouldn't have to worry about Romney's war!
As long as it's just the 47% serving in the military, war is a sure thing! Cannon fodder!

Dear Larry!
If Romney's sons joined the miltary, there would be no "Romney War"! His sons are not part of the 47%, thanks to daddy! Romney would have no regrets sending the 47% into harms way to protect the 2%! He would NEVER send his own sons into battle! Plain and simple fact. It's too bad that they cannot be drafted today! All four would be Canadian citizens if the draft still existed!

October 16, 2012 at 8:13 am |

MATTY13

"No matter who is President"....we'll be at war with Iran in 2 years.

October 16, 2012 at 11:47 am |

mklsgl

Yet another uninformed opinion. Neither the US nor Israel nor any of our 'allies' will be at war with Iran at any time in the foreseeable future–probably never. Do you know that overwhelming majority of Iranians (the people, not the gov't or religious leaders) are no different than most Americans? They want a democratic society. They want their children to enjoy civil rights and freedoms. They think the same things about extremists and terrorists just like we do. Western lifestyle is what they want. Regime change is what they want. Not war.

I reckon there are individuals who are addicted to playing dangerous games in every nation, and the higher the stakes the more the adreneline rush. Such folks should be guarded against at all cost, because despite saying they know the results of their actions, they actually do not know. How can someone want to die or cause the death of someone if they know what lies beyond? There are individuals who can kill innocents and call it collaetral damage or that they have been sent by God. Do you think such People are easy to change? The devil has them in his tight grip and every time the thrill of having klled dies down, they have to kill again. Folks what should we do with such since they are everywhere and some occupy positions of influence

It's just really hard to believe anything put out by cnn or the U.S. government anymore. We've been getting cyber attacks from china for years, but you don't hear much about that do you? No our government just lines up to kiss their as* and line their pockets at our expense. If it really was Iran why wouldn't they say publicly? Sounds like propaganda for our next war by right wingers.

In fact, we heard about China`s cyberattacks on US in the past years and we also heard about some Chinese spies (even American paid by the Chinese) arrested on US soil but your conspirationist mind just chose to ignore these facts. Do a quick google search and your selective vision will see better.

I say we all work with Homeland Security to coordinate our computeres firepower and have them put up dedicated netowrk servers that us as citizens can connect to and every time Iran does this we use the power of the people and crush their network capabilities i a swift swoop by all of us coming together in DOS type of attacks to constantly crash their systems.

C'mon Homeland Organize it! You'd get so many US citizen tolet you use the power of our pc"s. Similar to foliding at home you can harness us and shut them down! Woohoo powa to the people and god love the US!

Rogue countries like Iran have one "silver bullet" in its armor.and that is cyber war-fare. By that, it can put international flights to risk of rendering them useless or to ram into more buildings. They can open the sluice gates of the major water-dams and remedy to defeat the protective strategies of US and its allies and destroy them without leaving a "finger-print"of evidence. They can put Wall-Street in a canoe like position. The only thing we can do to defeat their nefarious designs is to invest in cyber-crime programs. The entire war fleet of the USA can be rendered useless if we cannot come up with people and programs to defeat cyber-crime.

Two years ago, The Tea Party launched an ill conceived attack on our country! Their goals were admirable, but they were quickly "sold down the river"! This new gang pledges allegiance to Eric Cantor and the Grover Pledge. Treasonous, if you ask me! What happened to the oath of office? Why is the Tea Party now silent? The Tea Party got sold out! Plain and simple!

and you know this specifically HOW? Wait, don't tell me...you're CIA? you're NSA? you're omniscient? you're psychic? If you were in a position to 'know', you would have more to do than make broad, unsubstantiated comments on CNN. And you'd have a life, which you obviously do not.

"US antagonism towards Iran has nothing to do with nuclear weapons.
It is about protecting the petrodollar system.
Just like the Iraq invasion.
Iran is proposing to sell oil in non USD, just like Iraq did in 1996.
But the antagonism towards Iran is having the opposite of it's intended affect.
It is accelerating moves away from the USD.
India basically thumbed it's nose at the US when it was asked to apply sanctions to Iran. It entered into wider trade deals with Iran avoiding the use of the USD." from Ian56.blogspot.co.uk

BS... More likely it is ISRAEL, not IRAN, doing the attacks to get their war. Last few weeks Veterans Today site posted reports of how Israel wanted a Pearl Harbor Event – and would stage a False Flag to provoke US into bogus wars.... they have reportedly done it before...

see youtube - CIA Asset Susan Lindauer Can Now Speak 10 years after 9-11.
Yeah, the bush gang did it. Lied about everything... but note the Silverstein (Israel/ Mossad) connection to 9/11.
Lots more again about Israel plans on Veterans Today. Wise up America. You are being used again.

Cyberattacks are a serious offense to this country.
Shutting down northern power grids in the winter would be devastating.
The problem with blaming Iran at this time of heightened tensions harkens back to our government making false accusations against Iraq when Bush (41) was president; when he stuck his nose into the Iraq/Kuwait dispute. Seems like we have not learned anything from Middle Eastern history.
Our government has lost our trust.

Well cry me a hand full cyberattacks on other countries are just as serious an offense. Let the filthyh reich learn what the poverty people have to live, do without and put with.
Non Compensated Gay Vietnam Veteran and just wish they were doing it to the God Damned Thieves and Carrion eating Vulures in the Department Of Veterasns Affairs.

HI. I'm here for my daily dose of PROPAGANDA. So Iran is hacking our almighty military computer systems? Well in that case, we should bomb them for decades! Let's go occupy Iran for 60 years and spend tens of trillions killing mostly innocent bystanders and children. Even if it costs $1 trillion for every real terrorist we kill, it's worth it! Lord Rothschild please make this happen!

I agree with you on that point, but I still do not believe Iran is that smart or capable of doing this themselves. I think they paid someone to make it look like it came from IRAN but probably came out of Russia. These people do not act nor look smart! I think the media is giving them more credit than its worth. This article belongs in the "Onion" not a legit news forum

This cyber attack looks pretty much as the one the Israelis and probably in conjunction with the US sent to the Iranian nuclear center six months ago. This attack sounds and looks pretty much like a pay back. What goes around comes around

U.S. intelligence seems like a bunch of morons...that don't share data still in light of 9/11. They first announced this was China at the heart of this...now it is Iran. Pretty bad to mistake the two...even worse to go public that it is one instead of the other. This seems to be the case with several occurrences in the recent times...regarding Syria attack on the Embassy...first it was in response to a video now it is a calculated attack. With all the freedoms Americans have given up...in regards to travel and daily commuting through excessive searches...one would think that this "intelligence" would be more accurate...that they would know facts before disclosing information...that failures in intelligence information would be a thing of the past. Seems like there is more interest in creating a new industry, security, and defending it's purpose and necessity than there is for actually securing anything. Just stupid!

Anybody notice that no specific source or department is mentioned, just the intelligence apparatus. In mentions pancetta, but he does not state anything about Iran. Just a made up story without any factual sources. Anybody can make things up and say whatever they want like this article.

I would think your concern would be all the things happening on Obama's watch. His policy of being passive is not working. All the years of work on security after 9-11 is starting to fall apart. He spent too much time on building a legacy with his healthcare and ignored his other duties, like the security of Americans.

@Kay: what are you talking about? Passive? Did you forget he ordered the go-ahead on the bin-Laden mission and also those pirates he ordered shot dead... yeah, he's totally ignoring the security issues!

October 16, 2012 at 2:20 am |

The Truth

@Hmm: Obama gave the order and that is the ONE thing he did right in his ENTIRE time in office. Funny how neither he nor the liberal media have given Bush any credit for it though. The entire operation was set up and put in motion under the Bush administration ... with out Bush, we never get Binladen!

Amazing how Obama blames all HIS failing on Bush yet the one thing that he does right really is because of something that Bush did and not a single peep of credit!

October 16, 2012 at 9:03 am |

Bob

MAYBE THEY SHOULD TAKE OBOZO BACK INTO THEIR FOLD SINE HE WILL BE OUT OF WORK IN NOVEMBER.

When the tyrant has disposed of foreign enemies by conquest or treaty, and there is nothing more to fear from them, then he is always stirring up some war or other, in order that the people may require a leader. – Plato

In Saudi Arabia, more than 30,000 computers were rendered useless by the attack on the state oil company ARAMCO.

Another sentence written by someone who is computer illiterate. Unless, of course, "the attack" was actually a physical attack that resulted in the physical destruction of the computer hardware. If, on the other hand, it was a "cyberattack" like a virus or a worm or something that installed some adware that directed the user back to a pharamacy in Iran to buy some pills to increase membership... then no, the computers were not rendered useless. Just reformat and reinstall whatever OS like any half-wit IT admin could do. Sheesh. This whole "cyberattack" fearmongering is just pathetic.

Ah, mass chaos and confusion with a sprinkle of rumor, what a mix. 1f u c4n r34d th1s u r34lly n33d t0 g37 l41d. Oh how awesome it would be if it's actually some 13yr old kid with Aspergers that listens to Deltron 3030 'Virus' a little too much.

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CNN's Security Clearance examines national and global security, terrorism and intelligence, as well as the economic, military, political and diplomatic effects of it around the globe, with contributions from CNN's national security team in Washington and CNN journalists around the world.